North Tower, Fourth Floor
by nila.nithila
Summary: Ryoma is a new student at Kaganeiro High school - the best boarding school in Japan. Or so everyone thinks. Behind those gates, inside those towers, is the worst form of hell anyone could ever imagine. The students in it have problems of their own. Broken dreams, forgotten ambitions, tension, stress...together, the Fourth Floor will make it through anything. Maybe.
1. Arrival

**Ninth grade is a pain. (This is nithila again, by the way. AKA nila's sister.)**

**This very simple fact, combined with the fact that I've been forced to dwell on educational stress and people always being forced to win, be the best, be the smartest, and blah blah blah...well, it inspired this story. A lot of the things that will happen are based on things that have actually happened to my classmates, cousins, or random other people. The school is based on my cousin's school.**

**As I said, ninth grade is terrible. The academics, as well as my classmates. I can't stand it, and that was another source of inspiration. Some of the characters will be based on my classmates, and maybe some teachers as well. NOTE: Many teachers will be OCs. I bet you know why.**

**So, it took two months to type this up. Its been written, rewritten, again and again. **

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Prince of Tennis.**

**Hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

Rain splattered against the car window, fogging it up and obscuring the view. Ryoma wrinkled his nose in irritation. Now he couldn't look outside anymore.

Sighing, he crossed his arms and fell back against his seat, staring into space.

"Ryoma?" His mother called from the front seat. "Keep looking towards the right. We're _almost _there."

Why, he would have _loved_ to look towards the right. The only problem was, he'd just see a huge blurry smudge.

But he really did want to see the first view of the building...

After a moment's thought, he opened the window. Rainwater splashed inside the car and on his face, but he'd always liked the rain. His mother, on the other hand, didn't appreciate this decision.

"Ryoma, close the window. The seats are getting wet," she warned.

Ryoma ignored her. "Just a few minutes..."

Rinko frowned, but said nothing.

A minute later, "Ryoma? We're here."

Ryoma squinted through the darkness to see the building, and inhaled sharply when he saw it.

That place...his new school...

...looked like hell itself.

The main building was practically a castle, with four tall, dark towers at the corners. Before the building were two other towers, that were as tall as the ones attached to the building, but were considerably less wide. On top of these two towers, bright lights that could be mistaken for flames had been lit, adding to the eerie effect.

The place felt somehow...dangerous.

As they drove through the gate, he could see a marble fountain in front of the school entrance. The statue was of a king, dressed in royal clothing, and holding a crown slightly above his head. The king was smirking in victory, and on the pedestal of the fountain, a few words were engraved: _Knowledge Itself, is Power._

Ryoma looked a bit further, towards the perfectly trimmed bushes and trees, and came to a decision: He closed the car window.

His mother turned around to face him and smiled cheerfully. "It's beautiful, isn't it? The best school in all of Japan. You're going to love it!"

_Beautiful? Best? Love it? _Ryoma's eyebrow twitched. The whole place was creeping him out! It seemed so dark, so eerily deceptive, and she thought it was _beautiful?_

They parked the car, and he stepped outside cautiously, pulling out an umbrella. His mother did the same, and, together, they walked towards the entrance.

He climbed up the three or four steps that led to the door and pushed it open, revealing a small lobby. To one side was the principal's office, to the other side the office room, and ahead of him was a long corridor that led into the school.

His mother turned towards the principal's room. "I have to finish off some paper work. You can look around a bit, but whatever you do, _stay on the first floor."_

Ryoma nodded absently, and proceeded down the corridor.

He didn't like this school. Not one bit. The whole atmosphere made him feel out of place. It looked too big, important, and _perfect. _He felt so...lost.

Various awards, certificates, and photographs hung on the walls, but Ryoma didn't look at them. He stared steadily at the ground, and it wasn't long before he was lost in his own world.

So he was pretty surprised when he suddenly crashed into something. Or someone.

He looked up crossly, intending to insult the person for daring to stand in his way, but his words died in his throat.

The figure was wearing a dark, red cape, and as he turned to face Ryoma, it swirled behind him. He looked down at him with cold, unforgiving sapphire eyes, and then smiled vampirishly.

Then, in an icy voice, he spoke.

"Welcome to hell."

* * *

If Ryoma had been anyone other than himself, he would have run screaming from the room. Luckily, he had the honour of being himself, so he merely raised an eyebrow at the person.

This was a very good decision, because once he did so, the person dropped the cold expression and started laughing. He then pulled off the cape and extended a hand towards Ryoma.

Ryoma shook it cautiously, and the older boy smiled. He had light brown hair, and had his eyes closed, concealing the icy blue he had seen earlier from view.

"I'm sorry about that. I just heard that our floor was getting a new student, and that he was going to be roommates with me and Kirihara-san. And what better way to ensure that I make friends with a person than to greet him personally?"

'_What better way indeed. He's just ensured that I make sure we never do.'_

The older boy continued smiling. "I'm Fuji Syuusuke, your senior. You're a first year, right?"

"Hai." Ryoma bowed slightly. "Echizen Ryoma."

"Ah..." Fuji looked at him knowingly, and somewhat accusingly. "Momo has told us a lot about you."

Ryoma tensed slightly at the name. '_Momo-senpai...how do I explain things to him?'_

"So, would you like to come upstairs to see our floor?" Fuji asked, starting towards a staircase.

Ryoma broke out of his reverie. "Er...I'm supposed to stay on the first floor."

Fuji was taken aback. "Your parents said so?"

Par_ents, _huh? "Yes?"

Fuji looked even more surprised, if not amazed.

Ryoma stared back at him. Seven seconds. Fifteen seconds. His patience ran out and he snapped.

"_What?"_

Fuji was _still _staring at him."You listen to your parents?"

Now that was...a weird question.

Fuji shook his head in disbelief. "I never did." Then he continued towards the stairs like he hadn't said anything, waving a hand at him to follow.

Despite himself, Ryoma followed him, coming to the conclusion that his room-mate was insane.

Fuji laughed. "Trust me, Yukimura is just as bad."

Great. He could mind-read, too.

* * *

"Momoshiro, please, calm down!"

Momo stubbornly continued pacing around the room, swinging his arms violently. Oishi sighed and rubbed his temple.

_Crash._

Momo banged his arm against a chair, and grunted slightly in pain. But not even the mighty chair could sway him.

"Really, Momo," Taka tried, eyeing him wearily, "I'm sure he had a valid reason."

Momo swung around to face him. His dark, purplish black eyes were wild and furious, and his hands were shaking in anger. "I went to school one day, and couldn't find him anywhere. I thought he was sick. At the end of the day, I overheard two teachers talking about him, and only then did I find out that he'd _left the country_." He took a deep, shaky breath. "He...he was my best friend...and _he left without telling me!_ He changed his cell phone number, didn't reply to my emails, and no one even knew where he was! Didn't the idiot _think_ for a moment about how _I'd_ feel? "

"Momo, he must have-"

"_I don't care about his reasons! _If you're leaving the country for nearly two years, you should tell your best friend!"

"He does have a point," another voice spoke up. Momo turned slightly, and saw Mukahi Gakuto sitting in the corner of the room. "I mean, I'd be pretty grumpy if Yuushi left Japan, whether he told me or not. If he hadn't told me, I would have gotten Atobe's spies to track him down and murder him to death."

"_ORE-SAMA DOES NOT HAVE SPIES!" _Atobe insisted loudly from his room.

"And the word 'murder' itself means to cause the death of a person, so it is highly unnecessary to say 'murder him to death'," Oshitari Yuushi added, pushing his glasses up.

Mukahi rolled his eyes, and opened his mouth to retort, when the door opened.

* * *

Fuji stepped inside first, smiling widely, and he pushed a smaller, younger boy in front of him as he did so.

There were only seven people in the room, as everyone else was still roaming around the school. Some of them smiled at the new boy, one of them seemed uninterested, and another flipped his hair and posed stupidly. Yet another stared at him, unbelieving.

"Everyone," Fuji said, still smiling, "This is Echizen Ryoma."

There was a moment of silence as first impressions were made.

The boy was rather short for a fifteen year old, and also rather thin for his age. His hair was black with an emerald tinge, and his bangs fell in his face, casting a dark shadow over his eyes. Even then, those golden eyes shone brightly, and they darted quickly around the room, looking for someone.

The moment he caught sight of Momo, he stiffened. "Momo-senpai..."

Momo did the natural thing. He punched him.

After a moment, Momo did the next natural thing. He grabbed his best friend in a death hug.

"You complete idiot! I missed you! Where were you? Why did you leave? _Why the hell didn't you TELL ME?_ I was so _angry!_ In fact, I still am! What did you leave like that for? You didn't think of anyone else, did you? What happened to your phone? Why didn't you answer my mail? Why didn't you _send _me mail in the first place? Where the heck _were_ you? "

Ryoma ignored Momo's ranting, as well as all of his questions, and concentrated on rubbing his nose. He glared up at his senior grumpily. "That hurt, Momo-senpai."

Momo waved a hand in dismissal. "You deserved it. Anyway, look at you! You look so different! You've grown so much taller! You're so short!"

Ryoma's eyebrow twitched. What the heck?

Fuji cleared his throat, interrupting the conversation. "I think we'd better introduce ourselves," he started. "There's a total of twenty five students on this floor. This is our common room, and the surrounding rooms are our dormitories. It's either two or three to a room. As I said before, you'll be rooming with me and Kirihara-san, who's sitting over there." Fuji pointed at a black haired boy at the side of the room. The boy glared at Ryoma, who whole-heartedly glared back. He hated both of his room-mates already, the joy.

A tall, black haired boy stood up, smiling kindly. "I'm Oishi Shuuichiro, third year. Nice to meet you!"

"Kawamura Takashi, third year," A brown haired, friendly looking boy added.

A red headed, "Mukahi Gakuto, third year," was followed by a blue haired, "Oshitari Yuushi, third year," and then introductions were finished with a grayish, purplish haired "Atobe Keigo, third year, prefect. Be awed by Ore-sama's brilliance."

"Speaking of which, you're a prefect too, aren't you?" Momo asked him. Ryoma nodded in reply.

"Fuji-senpai's a prefect, too, and so are Sanada-senpai and Yanagi-senpai. Tezuka-buchou and Yukimura-senpai are both Head Boys," Momo said proudly.

"I heard you play tennis?" Oishi asked kindly. "Momo told us that you won the nationals in junior-high."

Ryoma froze, and his eyes widened slightly in shock.

He'd almost forgotten.

_Tennis..._

Of course the topic would come up_._ Momo didn't _know_ yet. How could he? He hadn't told him. He hadn't even _met _him in two years.

He looked up at his new schoolmates' expectant faces. The red haired boy snatched up a racket from a nearby table and held it up to him, bouncing on the soles of his feet. "You want to play a match?" he asked excitedly.

Ryoma stared up at him for a moment, and then slowly shook his head no.

"Ha!" Mukahi cried in triumph. "Are you scared?"

He felt a flash of irritation. "It's raining," he stated. Mukahi stared out the window in disbelief.

Then, he looked straight at Momoshiro and spoke directly to him. "But even if it wasn't, I wouldn't be playing, because I quit tennis years ago."

Then he ran out of the room, down the three flights of stairs, and back into the dark, foreboding corridors.

* * *

**To be Continued.**

**So, how was it? Please review! Constructive criticism is appreciated.**

**Oh, and does anyone want to be my beta-reader?**


	2. Introductions

**I'm alive! Exams are over! Most of my holidays were taken up by a five-day school tour, so I could only update today. I actually started this chapter well before the exams, but I was never happy with it. I rewrote it so many times I can't bear to read it anymore. So, the update was delayed. Sorry.**

**To_ Fanfic Lover:_****A prefect is basically a student who has been given some authority or control over other students. I guess they're a bit like monitors. I don't think Japanese schools have prefects (I think that they stick with Student Councils), but I'm not too familiar with the Japanese education system, so I'm not going to follow it. Thank you for reviewing!  
**

**As always, thanks to all the reviewers:  
**

**mortiferum aestus  
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**oblivion of doom  
**

**LuvvAlexander  
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**Soul Vrazy  
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**DaPurpleDino  
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**Fanfic Lover  
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**MissMeep  
**

**Sajeka  
**

**And now, back to the story.**

* * *

Yukimura Seichii had single-handedly managed to clear the entrance hall of its occupants. And all he had done was smile at them. _Sweetly._

Now, his plan was all set for action. But there was just one, tiny problem: his victims were running late.

He blew a strand of hair out of his face, shifting the heavy stack of books in his arms. His school ID card balanced precariously on top of the pile. The moment Fuji had informed him that Echizen was here, he had grabbed the first books he could find and had come running down the stairs, and only now did it occur to him that he had grabbed way too many.

Sighing, he checked his watch and waited some more.

Finally, the door of the principal's office opened, and a young woman came out. She had light brown hair and sharp blue eyes, which reminded him strongly of a certain sadist. Yukimura quickly turned his back to her and busied himself by looking at the notifications hanging on the wall, acting like he hadn't been waiting there for the past ten minutes.

'_So his father isn't here? Pity…It would have been more interesting to meet him.'_

He heard a dull thud as the door slammed shut, but he didn't turn around. Instead, he waited for her to notice him. A few moments passed, and then he heard her footsteps as she walked towards him.

"Excuse me, are you a student here?"

The answer was obvious, but he nodded anyway. "Hai. Yukimura Seichii," he said, bowing slightly.

At that moment, he just _happened _to lose his grip on his books, and they just _happened _to fall tumbling to the ground. He cursed and bent down to pick them up, and he just happened to pick up all his books before his ID card.

The woman bent down beside him, and started helping. Her gaze fell on his ID card, and she picked it up slowly. Once she read the words '_Head Boy of Kaganeiro High', _her eyes sparkled.

All according to plan. _'I should use this technique more often,' _he thought. '_It's a lot better than having Kikumaru come screaming "HEAD BOYY!" into the hall.'_

The woman looked at him with new respect. "Oh, so you're the head boy? My son is new here – we've only just moved to Japan, you see – and I was told that Kaganeiro was the best in the country, and that all the students get more than ninety percent in the Final exams, so I decided to send him here. Is the school really as good as they say?" She spoke very quickly, without pausing between her words, and her sharp eyes watched his every movement, judging him, trying to figure out if the school had a worthy head boy.

Yukimura struggled to keep his smile in place. "Most of the time, yes. The people who can't do so generally commit suicide before the Finals." He said this casually, and watched carefully for her reaction.

"So I've heard," she said, just as casually. "But my son isn't that stupid." And that was all.

"They push us really hard," Yukimura went on. "We work continuously, and anyone who fails to meet the expected standard is punished quite severely. The pressure…" he shook his head slowly. "I just hope your son can handle it."

The woman seemed to consider this. "Pressure is good," she finally said. "It always brings good results."

Yukimura couldn't help it. He smirked. Then, bowing once more, he excused himself and headed back to the fifth floor.

On the way, he pulled out his phone and quickly texted a message to Fuji Syuusuke: _'His father wasn't here. But his mother is just like everyone else.'_

Moments later, his phone pinged as he received a reply: _'I knew it.'_

* * *

"So, this is Yukimura's and Sanada's room, this is Mukahi's and Oshitari's, and _this-_" Fuji paused dramatically, gesturing towards another room, "-is our room."

In his enthusiasm, he failed to realize that their room door was _closed. _Ryoma stared at it blankly. Finally, something clicked in Fuji's mind, and he opened it.

The room was bigger than the other ones he had seen, since it was supposed to hold three people. The walls were plain white, and three beds were lined up against the walls, each separated by a desk and a chest of drawers.

The left side of the room was…messy. _Really _messy. Ryoma could barely see the desk underneath the piles of books, papers, and files. The wall next to it was covered with posters of tennis players, rock stars, and food(?), with each poster overlapping the other. Basically, the place looked like it belonged to someone who wasn't very smart, so he presumed that it belonged to Kirihara. The danger sign, with the skull and crossbows pasted messily above the posters confirmed it.

The middle part of the room was neat and orderly – almost sparkling clean, and it probably belonged to Fuji. On the walls were beautiful photographs of the ocean, trees, sunsets, rainbows...Ryoma briefly wondered if Fuji had taken them all himself. There were also a few photographs of people, and next to it, was a huge diagram of the human brain, that was so detailed and gruesome that it even freaked Ryoma out.

The right side of the room was empty. The walls were bare, the bed was untouched, and the desk had nothing on it.

"That's where you'll be staying for the next three years," Fuji said, smiling happily. "If you last that long, that is. I said the same thing to another junior once, and he killed himself three months later." Fuji's smile didn't waver once.

Ryoma stared at him. This guy was talking about people _dying _the way a person would talk about getting a birthday present.

He wordlessly started dragging his trunk inside. After watching him struggle with it for a good fifteen seconds, Fuji decided to help him.

Together, they hauled it across the room, and finally dumped it on his bed. Ryoma sat down, starting to unpack, and Fuji sat on his own bed, watching him closely. His stare unnerved Ryoma, but he pretended not to notice.

The second he opened the trunk, a small, fluffy object jumped out at him.

"_Karupin!?"_

The cat meowed in response, and snuggled against her owner. Ryoma forgot all about Fuji and hugged her back, smiling happily. "How did you get here? Did you follow me again? How many times have I told you to stay when I tell you to?"

Fuji coughed slightly, and Ryoma suddenly remembered where he was. He looked at Fuji sheepishly. "Er…are cats allowed at school?"

Fuji shrugged. "Kaidoh used to have one once. They're allowed as long as they don't bother anybody. Make sure she stays on our floor, okay?"

Ryoma nodded, then continued pulling things out at random. Karupin settled comfortably on his lap.

An extra uniform. Clothes. His cap…he wouldn't be needing that here. A pair of shoes. His Phys Ed uniform. One of Karupin's toys…? So maybe _that _was why she was here... A few books, notebooks, files, stationary, a toothbrush…Aha. Photographs.

He hadn't really wanted to bring them, but his cousin had insisted that hanging them up on his walls would make him feel better. However, he still wasn't very keen on the idea.

Fuji seemed to notice this (or he read his mind again). "Trust me, it helps. Bare walls are depressing. Do you want help hanging them up?"

Ryoma shrugged. It couldn't hurt.

The photos were of various things. His happiest moments, his favorite places, his old friends, his cat, his family, his cousin…it was all there.

Fuji started hanging the pictures up at random, while Ryoma looked through the pile. Once he spotted an overly familiar one, he stopped and stared at it.

The picture had been taken in America, outside his house. He was smiling for once, his golden eyes shining in amusement. Next to him was a blonde boy, with his arms around Ryoma's shoulders, grinning like a lunatic, his grayish blue eyes glinting mischievously.

His best friend, Kevin Smith. A wry smile made its way to Ryoma's face.

Fuji looked at him curiously. "Who's that?"

Ryoma shrugged. "A friend. I met him in America."

A few moments later, Fuji found another interesting picture, and his eyebrows arched up in surprise. "This guy looks just like you! Is he a relative?"

Ryoma turned sharply, and as he saw the photo that Fuji was holding, his eyes widened in shock. A moment later, they narrowed. He was sure he hadn't brought that picture, he'd made a point to leave it behind. His mother wouldn't have put it in his bag, either – she'd wanted to throw it in the trash. That left only one option: his cousin, Nanako.

Just looking at the face in the photograph made him furious, and it triggered too many memories, but he forced his face to remain emotionless.

"It's none of your business."

In one swift motion, he grabbed the photograph, pulled open the bottom drawer of his shelf, and stuffed the photo into the back corner. There was no way he was putting _that _up on the wall.

Fuji's smile disappeared, and his eyes narrowed dangerously. Ryoma refused to look at him.

* * *

"_Wait, so you don't even remember him?" Kevin stared at him in disbelief. "Just how young were_ _you?"_

_Ryoma scrunched his eyebrows up in confusion. "He says I was five…"_

_The two of them were stretched out under their favorite tree in the park. The sun was setting slowly, giving the whole place a golden glow. But Ryoma wasn't in the mood to enjoy the scene that day._

"_You don't remember _anything_?"_

"_I remember some things, but they're very vague... We used to have an orchard behind the house, and I remember him stealing my oranges there." He frowned. " He never peeled them – he always ate the whole thing. And I think I remember Karupin chasing him around…but I never remembered the fact that he was my brother." He closed his eyes and sighed quietly._

_Kevin stared up at the sky. "I don't get why he turned up now. Did he already know that…?" he looked at his best friend knowingly._

_Ryoma nodded. "Yes. I think that's why he came." His frown deepened. "Kaa-san hates him."_

_Kevin smirked. "Of course she would. Most women would hate the son of another wife of their husband."_

* * *

When Ryoma had finally finished unpacking, Fuji suggested that they go around the school, so that Ryoma could meet the rest of the students of the fourth floor.

The first person they bumped into was third year Kikumaru Eiji, who had pounced on Ryoma and given him a death hug the moment they met. Apparently, this was how he generally greeted everyone.

Then, they met another third year, Akutagawa Jiroh, who yawned, said hello, yawned again, and then fell asleep. Apparently _he_ greeted everyone that way, too.

Next, they met third year Shishido Ryou, who introduced himself normally, and left. Ryoma decided that he was the only person he'd seen so far who wasn't partially crazy.

He slammed into Kaidoh Kaoru (a second year) as he turned a corner, and said boy hissed at him and stomped away without introducing himself. It was Fuji who had told him what his name was.

Third years Inui Sadaharu and Yanagi Renji told him that there was a ninety seven point nine eight percent chance that he was so short because he wasn't drinking enough milk, and offered him a glass of something that strongly resembled tar that would help him grow faster. Luckily for him, he had the sense to refuse the strange…thing.

As they headed towards the entrance hall, something that vaguely resembled a red object came flying towards him at full speed, knocking him to the ground, and sitting on top of him. The red object seemed strangely familiar…

"_KOSHIMAE!"_

Ryoma's eyes widened. _"You!"_

The boy grinned at him. "Yay! You remember me!"

Fuji chuckled softly. "Ah, yes, I forgot to mention. Apparently he knows you too."

Ryoma scowled. "Well, _I_ don't know him! "

Fuji raised an eyebrow, and the boy protested loudly. Ryoma quickly continued talking. "I've _met _him, since he used to chase me around the city on a tricycle. But I don't know who he is."

Fuji sweat dropped. "Kintarou…it never occured to you to introduce yourself to him?"

Kintarou pouted. "I just wanted to play a match with him, but he kept running away!"

"_You were chasing me on a tricycle."_

"If you'd stopped running, I wouldn't have!"

Ryoma shook his head. This year was getting better every moment.

* * *

**How was it? Please review!**


	3. First Day

**EDIT: I just realized I forgot to put in line breaks. I've fixed it, now. But I feel like a fool.  
**

**I know it's been a very long time. I apologize. School was driving me crazy. But somehow, I've managed to finish it.**

**This chapter would have never come out, if it weren't for my beta reader, MissMeep. Thank you so much!**

**Also, I would like to thank the reviewers:  
**

**Ciel D'or Serendipite**

**happy-go-lucky writer**

**DaPurpleDino**

**JigokuTenshi834**

**Nekotan1999**

**FanficLover**

**Kiraitan**

**MissMeep**

**And also all the people who added this story to their favorites and alerts. **

* * *

Fuji stood over Kirihara's bed at four thirty in the morning, his eyebrow twitching slightly, a frown tugging at his lips.

The boy was still fast asleep. He was sprawled over the bed in a most undignified manner, with his mouth hanging open. And, as if that wasn't enough, he was drooling.

Yes, Fuji was facing a most horrendous sight indeed. But that wasn't the only reason why he was irritated.

Fuji had never liked Kirihara. There was something about the boy that irked him. He was arrogant, bratty, disrespectful, and rude. And he turned into a demon when he was angry. Fuji had disliked him from the moment they had met, and he didn't expect his feelings to change any time soon.

Kirihara, thankfully, felt the same way.

It wasn't easy sharing a room with someone who despised you. It irritated Fuji to no end. The two avoided each other as much as possible, and Fuji usually spent the night studying in the library, or he'd jump out the window and go for a walk. The school guards weren't very good at doing their job.

Fuji looked at Kirihara for a moment longer, and finally decided to wake him up.

He quietly reached for a stack of books on the younger boy's table, held them above Kirihara's head, counted to three, and dropped the stack.

Before Kirihara could start screaming, Fuji went into the bathroom and shut the door. As the screams began, he smiled happily to himself, and began his morning routine.

* * *

Ryoma woke up to the beautiful sound of his roommate screaming bloody murder.

At first, he ignored it. He pulled the covers over his head, shut his eyes tightly, and tried to sleep again. The screams only got louder.

Scowling to himself, Ryoma buried his head under his pillow and cursed Kirihara Akaya under his breath. The screams continued.

Ryoma was just about to get up and tell Kirihara to _shut up, _but someone beat him to it.

"_Kirihara!"_

Kirihara shut up.

Curious as to who his savior was, Ryoma pulled the covers off of his head and squinted in the approximate direction of the noise. Standing in the door way, with his arms crossed and face stern, was a tall, black haired boy, who seemed ready to punch Kirihara any moment.

"Sanada-fukubuchou!" Kirihara started. 'Sanada' silenced him with a _look._

Assuming that the matter was in good hands, Ryoma rolled over and promptly fell asleep again.

Several minutes later, he was shaken awake by a smiling Fuji Syuusuke, who did not seem to understand that the day only started _after _the sun rose.

"Why are you up so _early?" _he asked him grumpily.

Fuji looked surprised. "You're actually late, Echizen. Self-study starts at five o'clock."

Ryoma glared at him. "Why?"

Fuji raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"Why would it start at five?"

Fuji paused for a moment. Then slowly, he opened his sapphire eyes and smiled vampirishly, just as he had done the previous day.

Ryoma quickly got out of bed.

* * *

Morning self-study, Ryoma later decided, as he stared down at his notebook, was the worst thing in the world since chemical equations.

It didn't help that he was _doing _chemical equations _during _self-study. And it certainly didn't help that he was still half asleep.

He allowed himself a moment to pray for Fuji Syuusuke's slow, painful death, before he continued staring blankly at his notebook.

Self study took place for two hours, on the ground floor of every tower. The rooms were huge, with a low ceiling, and rows and rows of desks. In the study hall of North Tower, there seemed to be more than four hundred students.

Needless to say, the atmosphere was suffocating.

Once he had entered the room, a teacher had called for him, given him a list of all the chapters he had missed in the past one and a half months, and had told him sternly that he wanted all the work finished in one week.

Ryoma had stared at the list, and then stared at the man. "I can't finish all of this in a week!" He had said.

The teacher had shrugged. "You'll have to find a way."

So now, here he was, sitting at his desk between Mukahi Gakuto and the head boy, Tezuka Kunimitsu, frantically trying to finish pages and pages of chemical equations which made no sense to him whatsoever.

At that moment, Mukahi waved a hand at him to get his attention, and threw a crumpled paper ball at him. Then, using some quick hand gestures, he demonstrated how to uncrumple it, because that wasn't the most obvious thing in the world.

Ryoma snorted. Thanks to Mukahi's instructions, he successfully managed to perform the difficult task of uncrumpling the paper ball, and found a short, messy note:

'_Hey, why did you join school so late? And why don't you play tennis anymore?"_

Ryoma dutifully crumpled the paper up once more and tossed it back at Mukahi. He then proceeded to ignore him.

"Hey, you were supposed to reply!" Mukahi said out loud.

"_Mukahi Gakuto! _Stop talking and do your work!" A teacher barked from the front of the room. Several people giggled, and Mukahi glared daggers at the paper ball sitting on his table.

Ryoma smirked at him, and then returned to his equations.

Moments later, another ball of paper landed on his desk, this time from behind him.

Sighing, he opened it.

'_The answer is 2FeCl__2__+2HCl+S.'_

He jerked his head around and stared at the boy behind him in surprise. The boy(?) was older than him, with longish blue hair, dark blue eyes, and a rather feminine appearance. For a moment, Ryoma couldn't decide on his gender, but since the person was wearing the _boys'_ uniform, he assumed that it was a boy.

The boy caught his eye and smiled at him gently. "Yukimura Seiichi," he whispered, his voice soft and melodic. "A pleasure to meet you."

Ryoma opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by-

"_Echizen Ryoma! _Turn around and do your work!"

Scowling, Ryoma complied.

* * *

Two hours of pointless suffering later, the bell rang, and the room was filled with the sounds of screeching chairs, tables, and laughter as the whole of North Tower headed outside.

Ryoma stood up slowly, yawned, and stretched, and then scanned the room for Momoshiro.

He couldn't find him.

Frowning, he looked around again, but the older boy had disappeared.

Ryoma's frown deepened. Now he'd have to find his way around the school himself, and he wasn't sure he could trust himself with that.

"Echizen Ryoma, isn't it?" A voice spoke up. Ryoma turned towards the older boy and nodded.

"Kitamura-sensei would like to see you."

* * *

Moments later, Ryoma stood in front of Kitamura sensei(who turned out to be his homeroom teacher)'s desk, fidgeting in his place.

Two minutes. He'd been standing there for two full minutes, but the man at the desk was ignoring him, and was instead organizing a stack of papers. Ryoma's precious breakfast time was ticking away…slowly…slowly…

He couldn't allow that to happen. He was hungry.

Ryoma cleared his throat, and the teacher finally looked up and blinked at him.

Ryoma blinked right back.

Something appeared to dawn in the old man, and, at last, he returned to planet earth. "Ah, you must be the new student, yes? Sit down, please."

Ryoma sat. Kitamura rummaged through his papers and pulled out a few sheets.

"This is your time table, this is the combination for your locker, and this is a list of clubs that you may join. The clubs only meet for two hours on Saturday, and if you don't want to join them, you may spend that time studying. Quite a few students have decided not to join any club."

Ryoma nodded, and decided not to join one.

"You will have self-study in the study hall for two hours in the morning, and two hours in the evening. Also, you have taken more subjects than most of your classmates, so you will have fewer study-periods during the day. I expect you to manage your time well."

Ryoma nodded again. Kitamura handed him the sheets, folded his arms, and then stared at him over his glasses intently. "I spoke to your mother yesterday, and she informed me that you know nothing about the ideals of Kaganeiro. So I would like you to listen to me carefully right now.

"Most of the successful people in Japan have graduated from this very school. We give education much more importance than they do in other places, so all of our students get very high marks in their final exams.

"When you graduate from here, you will _need _those marks to get into a good college, or university. These marks will, quite simply, account for the rest of your future. So I suggest you take what we tell you to do seriously. If you work only during the study time we put in your schedule, you will _never _be able to finish your work. Since you've arrived rather late in the year, you have even more work in front of you."

He looked at Ryoma hard, as if trying to tell him that if he didn't finish his work on time, he'd be roasted on a spork.

"Don't expect anyone to go easy on you because you've transferred late. Also, please remember that the school doesn't tolerate rule-breakers. If you are expected in the study hall at five, you'd better _be _in the study hall at five. Am I clear?"

Ryoma nodded hastily.

"Well then, you may leave." The man turned back to his paperwork, and Ryoma stood up.

"Oh, one more thing: Don't forget the school motto."

'_Knowledge Itself, is Power. How could I forget a creepy motto like that?'_

* * *

Breakfast was a solemn affair.

The food was amazing, of course. Ryoma had never tasted anything like it. It did, however, make him even more suspicious – to a normal onlooker, _everything _in this school would be perfect. But he still couldn't shake off the feeling that something was terribly wrong with it. His recent meeting with his class teacher had, if anything, proved his point.

He stared at his food suspiciously for a moment, wondering if there was poison in it. A moment later, he realized how stupid he was being, and shook the thought away.

Anyway, it wasn't the food that was bothering him. It wasn't even the people he was sitting with, although that did bother him a little. He was at a table with Momo and Kikumaru which wasn't a very solemn combination at all.

What w_as _bothering him(as in, _really _bothering him) was the fact that _nearly every person in the room was studying while they ate._

'_Seriously? After two hours of being locked up in that room?'_

"Ne, Momo-senpai," he started, looking in the vague direction of his senior's face (which was hidden from view by an abnormal amount of food). "Why is everyone acting so…strange?"

Momo said something that sounded strangely like, 'What is it to be a duck?'

Ryoma blinked. _"Huh?"_

Momo swallowed the (unhealthy) amount of food in his mouth, and continued, "What are you talking about?"

"They're all…studying. In the cafeteria." When they had _food_. Surely there was something wrong with that?

"Oh, _that. _Well, of course they're studying. We always have a test in the first period. Speaking of which," Momo paused. "Why am I not studying?"

"Probably because you couldn't hold a textbook while you hold so much food."

"Ah, yes! That was why!"

"So, we _always _have tests in the first period?"

"Yup. All the classes have it, every day."

Ryoma stared at his senior in horror.

Momo laughed. "Geez, Echizen, don't worry. You'll get used to it."

Ryoma was afraid he would.

* * *

After breakfast, he did indeed have a test. A _chemistry _test, no less. He had done so much chemistry in the past three hours, that he was all set to oxidize his question paper.

Somehow, though, he managed the quiz, and all was well.

Not really.

The next few hours passed in a blur. He discovered that the annoying redhead who chased him on a tricycle was his classmate, as was another annoying boy who had two years of tennis experience and an abnormally loud mouth, who was followed around by two, slightly less annoying black-haired boys.

What was worse, they all (red-head included) seemed to enjoy each other's company, and thereby assumed that he would, too.

Sadly, he didn't.

Classes were quiet, however, since no one dared to speak when the teacher was in the room. Questions were asked rarely (if at all), and every student took notes sincerely and memorized every word the teacher said. It all seemed alien to Ryoma, who was used to loud, lively classes, full of idiots who couldn't keep their mouths shut.

Kintarou had attempted to ask him something during Math, and had been caught, and he now had detention for a week. But, looking at his schedule, Ryoma could only wonder _where _people would have time for detention.

From five to seven, they had self study. Then they had breakfast, and school started at seven fourty five. At twelve, they had lunch, and classes resumed at twelve fourty-five. School was closed at five, when they were given one hour of free time, before they were expected at the study hall. And then they had dinner, and were sent to their dormitories.

Would they sacrifice their study periods for detention? Or maybe they'd have to stay up late…

"_If you work only during the study time we put in your schedule, you will never be able to finish your work."_

Ah yes, there was that. So they'd have to stay up late anyway. Just how much work did these people have?

Well, he had a lot more, thanks to having transferred late. He _knew _he should have stayed in America.

He sighed, as he trudged back to the dormitories. Classes were over, and he had one hour before self-study, so he was going to sleep.

* * *

**That's it.**

**Please review! It gives me lots of ideas.**


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